Mazinho hopes history can repeat itself for Brazil

Brazil are capable of banishing the painful memories of last year's World Cup exit at the Copa America, according to Mazinho.

Published

12 June 2015

Mazinho has urged the current Brazil squad to draw inspiration from the side that lifted the 1994 World Cup after the "complete failure" of crashing out of the last 16 four years previous at the hands of Argentina.

The spotlight is on how Brazil fare at this year's Copa America following the 7-1 semi-final thrashing against Germany in the 2014 World Cup on home soil.

Dunga's men start their Copa campaign in Chile against Peru on Sunday and World Cup-winner Mazinho hopes to see a positive reaction to prove the doubters wrong.

"Our foundation is always good, we have good players and now we have an intelligent head coach as well," the former midfielder told Perform.

"They know how to use this negative moment at the World Cup to extract the best from this situation.

"1990 was a complete failure for Brazil and we lost our way in the World Cup. However in 1994 all these issues had gone and we did not have any arguments among the squad. We knew our objectives and in the end we were the champions in 1994.

"In a negative moment, you should take this as an example of what you can do next. I hope this will happen for the current Brazil squad as well."